Off 2.1% to $1,174 per ounce, gold has tumbled about $75 over the past handful of sessions and broken through a multi-year low set late last year. One would have to go all the way back to the summer of 2011 to see gold priced here.

One day after the Fed ends QE and focus turns to a rate cut, precious metals are lit up bright red, led by a 4.8% decline in silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) to $16.44 per ounce. Gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) is down 2.15% and back below $1,200 per ounce.

WTI crude oil (NYSEARCA:USO) is down 1.1% to $81.32 per barrel. Bucking the trend lower is natural gas (NYSEARCA:UNG), up 2.4% to $3.81.

Bank of America has one of the more hawkish takes on the FOMC statement from yesterday, and continues to believe the Fed will push through its first rate hike in June, though the market has moved to pricing in tightening a few months later.

Precious metals miners and the ETFs that track them were slammed today as the Fed moved to end its bond purchase program.

Today’s 4.3% swoon in the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:GDX) drives the price below $20 for the first time since Oct. 2008, and the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSEARCA:SIL) tumbled 3.5% to its lowest finish since its launch in April 2010.

The Fed action was expected, but paired with a more upbeat assessment of the U.S. labor market, gold’s appeal is further dampened vs. income generating assets, Barron's Chris Dieterich writes.

Gold prices rallied today to $1,234/oz., their highest level since Sept. 23, a day after the dovish minutes from the Fed’s September policy meeting excited gold bugs, but shares of the mining companies are falling along with the broader market selloff.

No investment sector benefited more today from the dovish take on the FOMC meeting minutes than precious metals miners, as the Fed's worries over weakening world economies and a strong U.S. dollar offer hope for gold bulls that the Fed will not rush to raise interest rates.

Gold mining ETFs surged past those linked to the commodity price, with GDX+7.4% and GDXJ+9.6% while GLD+1%; among leveraged ETFs, NUGT+21.5%.

Gold’s downward spiral continues as the yellow metal closed today at an eight-month low and finishing its third weekly loss in a row, pressured by the dollar’s move higher after Wednesday's Fed policy meeting.

The FOMC meeting "maintains our belief that the process of U.S. monetary tightening continues, and this will encourage further advances in long-term real yields and the U.S. dollar," Deutsche Bank said today in a note.

Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC - formerly part of the old telephone-based system - joined today with newcomer Mitsui & Co. Precious Metals for the first-ever electronic fixing of the daily silver benchmark (it occurred at noon London time).

Previous to today, the silver fix for decades has been set daily on a private conference call. That system has been replaced by the London Silver Price - run by CME Group and Thomson Reuters in partnership with LBMA. More participants are expected to join in coming week, says the LBMA.

Precious metals miners are broadly lower as gold futures head for their biggest daily drop of 2014, plunging $29.30, or 2.2%, to $1,308.10/oz.

Physical demand has remained short of expectations, Commerzbank's Eugen Weinberg says, and India's decision to maintain a 10% import duty on gold and silver likely will dampen future gold demand expectations from the country.

Barclays, which expects gold to drop to $1,200/oz. by Q3, also expresses caution, saying recent gains across the metals complex look toppy.

Portugal's 4% decline today brings its 7-day dive to 11% as the parent of Banco Espirito Santo reportedly is considering bankruptcy protection. Banco Espirito is off 17% today and more than 50% over the last month.

Spain's IBEX 35 is down 2.4% and Italy's FTSE MIB is lower by 2%.

Gold is higher by 1.5% to $1,344 per ounce and silver by 2.4% to $21.58.

In other news, India disappointed gold bulls by leaving in place recent increases in gold import taxes in its just-released annual budget. The previous government over the last two years had boosted the import tax to 10% from 2% and mandated that 20% of imports had to be re-exported.

BlackRock chief investment strategist Russ Koesterich isn't buying the last month's 12% bounce in silver, attributing the move instead to the metal's typical volatility. Further, he says H1's drop in real interest rates - a boost to the metal - is unsustainable as the year goes on. "This suggests a tougher second half for precious metals, particularly for gold, which has historically had the stronger relationship with real rates.”

He also notes the silver-to-gold price ratio as near the historical average, suggesting silver isn't mis-priced, at least as it relates to gold.

A nice-sized rally has turned into a melt-up for the precious metals and the companies that pull them out of the ground. Gold is up 3.9% to $1,319, its highest level in two months, and silver is ahead 5.7% to $20.90. GLD+3.6%, SLV+5.4%

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